This invention relates to UV radiators for killing germs in an enclosed space in general and more particularly to a shielding arrangement for a rod shaped UV radiator in which a number of shielding plates are held parallel to each other at predetermined spacings.
In many fields of operation, it is necessary to keep and/or make rooms free of germs. A requirement to disinfect the air and/or the surface of objects exists not only in hospitals and in buildings in the pharmaceutical industry, but also in agricultural operations, particularly in animal breeding and animal farming and in plants which are concerned with the growing of microorganisms and cultrues. In such places it is necessary to keep rooms largely free of germs in order to avoid sickness, growth and output reductions, and to increase the efficiency.
In view of the various types of areas which are disinfected, such areas will hereinafter be referred to as "operations rooms." UV radiators which are mounted in the operations room in question either at the ceiling or at one of the side walls for the purpose of sterilization are known. Such UV radiators are commercially available in rod shaped designs including the necessary starters and ballasts; they are customarily arranged in the room horizontally.
One of the commercially available units has as its major disadvantage that it must be switched off upon the approach of humans in order to avoid radiation exposure. In another unit tiltable reflectors are optionally used, so that the radiation emanating from the UV radiator passes through the room above the eye level of people or animals located in the room in question. Its poor radiation distribution, its poor radiation utilization and the non-uniform irradiation of the room are a disadvantage. With this unit, generally only a small part of the air in the room is irradiated, so that in general, a blower is necessary to obtain uniform distribution of the disinfected air. Such an installation is therefore very expensive.
There is also commercially available an arrangement for a rod shaped UV radiator, in which the rod shaped UV radiator is inserted centrally through a number of ring shaped aperture disks. This is not a shielding arrangement in the proper meaning of the word, i.e., it does not serve to keep the harmful UV radiation away from people or animals in the room; it rather involves a trap for insects which, due to its light emission, attracts flies and other insects and destroys them upon contact. In other words, this arrangement is not intended for disinfecting the room. It emits UV radiation in all directions, i.e., even upward and downward, so that radiation protection is not assured. The purpose of the known aperture disk arrangement is primarily to protect the UV radiator against mechanical damage.
The present invention, on the other hand, addresses the problem of making or keeping, mainly in rooms of normal height, the air and the surface of objects located therein free of germs through the use of a UV radiator. Ideally, it should be possible to operate the UV radiator continuously, and in particular, all day long. Operation even in the presence of people and/or animals without harming them should also be possible. It should further be possible to keep the UV radiator largely free of dust even in rooms with a relatively high dust content, so that even with extended operation of the UV radiator no appreciable drop in the radiation output results.